BN is cautious because there is are 'fixed deposits' of hundreds of thousands of Muslim Filipinos in Sabah who have been given Blue IC's and native status who placed the BN government in power. Any wrong move could jeopardize this 'fixed deposit' in the coming GE. Another political motive is that with this 'stand-off' BN can mobilize thousands of Armed Forces and Rela personnel to the so-called 'hot-spots' and act as vote-banks in PR strongholds - edit.

Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has criticised the Home Ministry for its delay in resolving the "invasion" of Lahad Datu, Sabah, by an army linked to the Sulu sultan.Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein's latest remark that the invaders are "neither militants nor terrorists" was unacceptable, Lim said.

"If this is so, then why are they in (a village near) Lahad Datu (and) heavily armed? "If this had happened in Penang, I - as chief minister - would have asked for security assistance from the federal government to drive out or arrest the armed group." The group allegedly comprises some 100 followers of a sultan in the Philippines, who has claimed that Sabah was "leased" out to the Malaysian government.

Sultan Jamalul Kiram was quoted in an AFP report as saying that his men will remain in Sabah as it is their "home" Although Malaysian officials have claimed that the group is armed, Jamalul insisted that they are not. Despite the group's refusal to leave since their arrival on Feb 9, Malaysia has not been firm in its handling of the situation, Lim said.

"If Hishammuddin can't handle the situation immediately and send the armed group out of the country, he should resign," he added. "The government deported Australian Senator Nick Xenophon, who was unarmed. Here we have an armed group and nothing has been done so far."

Hishammuddin, who is currently in Sabah, has reportedly said that Malaysia is doing everything possible to ensure that stand-off is settled without bloodshed. Malaysiakini

Malaysia's decision to ban an Australian independent senator, Nick Xenophon, tells us a good deal about the state of its government, the world's longest-ruling outside the communist world, as it heads to an election. Australia's response tells us a few things about ourselves, too.

Before critiquing the ruling party, the party of Mahathir, now the party of Prime Minister Najib Razak, we should acknowledge that it knows a thing or two.

First, it's worked out how to hold power continuously for 56 years, ever since Britain granted Malaysia independence. That's a serious accomplishment.

Second, it hasn't done a bad job of running the economy. Malaysia's sharemarket was one of the best-performing in the world last year and the economy is growing about 4 to 5 per cent annually.

Malaysia is a pleasant, multi-racial country with the middle-income living standards that an average per capita GDP of $10,000 delivers, about the same as Turkey or Mexico.

So why is the government so afraid of Nick Xenophon? Why stop him at the airport with the confected explanation that he represents a threat to national security?

The reason is that he is an international observer campaigning in favour of a free and fair election. This is not a threat to Malaysia's national security, but it is a threat to the ruling party's grip on power. As the opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim, told me some time ago: "In a fair and free election, I am absolutely sure we will win."

Xenophon says that his detention and deportation shows "a high level of paranoia". But is it paranoia, or does the ruling party really have something to fear at the election it must call by the end of April?

At the centre of the long success of the ruling party is racial politics.

The county had a history of communal violence; the coalition National Front or Barisan Nasional (BN) party addressed that problem because it was founded on the principle of power-sharing between racial groups, the Malay majority with the Chinese and Indian minorities.

This balance held in check the fear of racial violence on a communal scale. But another key concept in the long years of BN rule was that the native Malays were inferior. They may be numerically dominant, but they lacked the skills and abilities of the other races. "Deep within them," wrote Mahathir in his 1970 book The Malay Dilemma, "there is a conviction that no matter what they decide or do, things will continue to slip beyond their control; that slowly but surely they are becoming dispossessed in their own land. This is the Malay Dilemma."

How to address it? By granting the Malays special privileges, including guaranteed dominance of the public sector and automatic, unearned shares of national wealth. In short, affirmative action. "It should not be wrong," wrote Mahathir, "for the Malays to cling to a system which can elevate them to the status of other races, thus creating a more equitable society."

The system kept the peace, but one side-effect of such a long stasis was that the government's monopoly on power allowed it to wield a near-absolute control over the other arms of the state, including the courts.

Mahathir shocked the world when he demonstrated the way that he'd managed to compromise all parts of the system when he moved against his deputy and potential nominated successor, Anwar, by trumping up charges that he'd sodomised his aide and speechwriter. Anwar went to jail for six years.

This was supposed to discredit Anwar permanently. But after moving to the US, the aide who testified against him recanted. In the police cells he had been "brutalised to make a totally false confession", he said.

Anwar, freed, led a barnstorming campaign as the leader of the opposition. He delivered the BN government a terrible shock at the 2008 election - it lost its customary two-thirds majority of parliament.

And while the BN retained a big majority in the parliament, the actual voting figures show that the contest was much closer than it appeared. BN won 51.4 per cent of the votes while the greater opposition gained 48.6 per cent.

The BN is protected by a gerrymander which means that while some electorates have more than 100,000 voters, others have as few as 7000. It's also protected by other systemic factors including a restricted press - the opposition parties need government permission just to print their own newsletters.

These are some of the awkward facts that Xenophon, as part of a wider international observer group, pointed out in a report last year. That group reported that in its discussions with the secretary-general of BN, Adnan Mansor, he'd stressed the importance of "avoiding racial strife" in Malaysia. He had posed this question to the group: "Are our people mature for freedom?"

The Malaysian government is afraid not of an Australian senator but of this question. In particular, the Najib government is frightened that the answer might be "yes."

"The status quo message," says one of Anwar's MPs, Liew Chin-Tong, is "unlikely to have an impact on an almost Arab-spring demography: 48 per cent of Malaysia's population are below 25 years old and 70 per cent are below 40 years old."

Mahathir anticipated in The Malay Dilemma a day when Malaysia's race-based construct would be obsolete, when the people would assert that they were no longer primarily Malays or Chinese or Indians but Malaysians. But he is not ready for the possibility that today could be the day, or that the people are the ones who have to make that decision.

The very tame reaction of the Foreign Affairs Minister, Bob Carr, to Xenophon's detention that it was "sad" and "disappointing," displays the usual limpness of Australian governments in defending their citizens abroad.

But, above all, Malaysia's overreaction to Xenophon simply validates his point that it is not a mature democracy. This has been Carr's fig leaf to justify Australia's silence at Malaysia's lack of democratic freedom - that we have no place in criticising a mature democracy. The deportation of Xenophon is an implicit confession by the Najib government that Xenophon is right and Carr is wrong.

Malaysia's people deserve a free vote, and Australia should stand with them in calling for one.

I think the whole of Malaysia have heard about the latest child abuse case involving an Indonesian maid. Maybe because Rafa is about the same age with the abused baby or maybe her devilish act is just beyond belief – I AM SO EMO ABOUT THIS!

The setan – Yuliana, 23 years old from Sukarame in Acheh, hurled, thrown and tossed the poor innocent baby, aged just 4 months like ROTI CANAI dough!!! I want to share with you the CCTV video here but this blog would be disgraced by it.

The syaitan maid took the baby by his limps and threw him on the floor 9 times! She even held him high over her head and threw him behind her back like a basket ball. Why setan?? Why???

Many speculated that she may be holding grudges against the baby's parents but can you believe she started working for them just ONE DAY before? What could the parents do in one day to piss her so much until she would attempt murder to their innocent baby? Gosh, how I wish I could also personally throw her like basket ball again and again sampai puas hati!

Apparently his mother caught the act on her CCTV feed to her cellphone, which genius, everyone with maids at home must have CCTV. She immediately rushed back home and rescued her son. The child suffered bruises but was fine until this morning when he was admitted to the hospital again when her parents realized that he was not moving the way he should even in his sleep. This saddened and angered me so much, I wanna hit the daylight out of that stupid maid! A four month old's bones are still soft and the shaking to his brain may impact him more than just bruises.

Well this is the devil from hell disguising as a woman.

This is an image from the CCT recording

From the latest news, the maid who also has children of her own is sentenced to a total of 20 years' jail by the Sessions Court at Kuantan. She was charged under attempted murder and child abuse. But this is before the baby was sent back to hospital. If anything serious happen to him, my emo self hope she will be charged again and get more years baru padan muka! But then again, she would be lodging in a Malaysian prison makan tanggung berak cangkung on our tax money… setan betul!

I remember how Indonesians campaigned "ganyang Malaysia", burnt our flags etc after a maid abuse case by the employer but just look at what your maid does to our innocent child! HUghhh! May God help us all, protect us from crazy people like this Yuliana and yes, please make the baby well again! Amin!

Pressure pushing down on me Pressing down on you no man ask for Under pressure – that burns a building down Splits a family in two Puts people on streets It's the terror of knowing What this world is about Watching some good friends Screaming let me out Pray tomorrow – gets me higher Pressure on people – people on streets She been around Kicked my brains round the floor These are the days it rains but it never pours People on streets People on streets It's the terror of knowing What this world is about Watching some good friends Screaming let me out Pray tomorrow – high higher Turned away from it all like a blind man Sat on a fence but it don't work Keep coming up with love but it's so slashed and torn Why – Ooooh Insanity laughs under pressure we're cracking Can't we give ourselves one more chance Why can't we give love that one more chance Why can't we give love Give love give love give love give love Give love give love give loveLove's such an old fashioned word And love dares you to care for The people on the edge of the night And love dares you to change our way of Caring about ourselves

This is our last dance This is our last dance This is ourselves Under pressure Under pressure Pressure

Like a coin, Malaysia has two sides; the tourist experiences a tropical idyll, a shopping paradise and gastronomic delights, but the man in the street sees the obverse.

In the markets, housewives moan about the increasing prices of everyday food items, but at any Malaysian Airlines check-in counter in London, New York, Dubai or Sydney, one can see Malaysian officials and their spouses deposit box after box of shopping. It is alleged that they seldom pay excess baggage charges.To say that Malaysia is a nation in chaos is an understatement. Minister after minister shows levels of incompetency that any half-decent company would never permit. Who runs the country? Who is in charge? Is Malaysia like an air plane cruising on auto-pilot until it crashes when it runs out of fuel?

While ministers are busy playing politics, the country is going to ruin. In Sabah, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's 'Project M', made illegal immigrants instant citizens of Malaysia. Last week, more than 100 armed foreigners breezed in and occupied a village, without any resistance.Elsewhere in Malaysia, people of distinction, whose only weapons are truth and the tenets of justice and democracy, are harassed and discouraged from entering Malaysia, or are deported. These people include a French lawyer acting on behalf of Suaram, a British lawyer acting on behalf of Hindraf, Thai pathologist Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand and Australian Senator Nick Xenophon.

Armed forces caught unawares

The Malaysian navy boasts an impressive and expensive array of weaponry, including submarines and fast naval boats. Despite this, our armed forces were caught unawares by the militants. The Star reported that in a press conference, Defence Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said, "These men are not terrorists." Most Malaysians think that when 100 armed rebels invade, they are terrorists, not friendly visitors.

Foreign Minister Anifah Aman, who bungled the recent controversial trip to Gaza by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, has maintained a low profile. With armed foreigners on their doorsteps, Malaysians, especially Sabahans, might be reassured by an official statement from Wisma Putra regarding this impasse.

Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said we should leave the security forces to deal with the situation, "Let the authorities with the expertise and responsibility resolve it without bloodshed. If anyone is killed, then the government and authorities will stand accused." Hishammuddin's words sound hollow. If only he applied the same standards to his own police force when they attacked Bersih demonstrators, caused hundreds of deaths in police custody, indiscriminately shoot at people, including teenagers and women, or allegedly beat security guard C Sugumar to death.

Among Najib's list of skills is his prowess as a drummer in the Chinese lion dance. More notable is his economy with words, especially in critical situations. Has he become a Benedictine monk and taken a vow of silence? It is most alarming that he has said nothing about the rebel threat.Is he still licking his wounds, after the humiliations that he suffered in Penang at the Psy concert?

In Sabah last November, two men - the manager of an oil palm estate and his assistant - were kidnapped by armed men and taken to southern Philippines. As a result of this, marine patrols were increased, especially as there were rumours that armed militia from the Philippines were preparing to land in Lahad Datu. Days after this abduction, men armed with M16 rifles raided a fishing platform off Tawau and took away a 40kg bag of ikan bilisworth an estimated RM350. Were these men testing the capability of our security defences in the area? They were not challenged, so it is possible that several more men have slipped into the country between November 2012 and February 2013.

Could there be another more simple explanation for the Sabah incursion? Sabah intrusion not seen as a threat The armed forces and police see no threat in the 100 armed rebels and yet an Australian senator is perceived to be an "enemy of the state". A casual, almost complacent, "tidak apa" attitude has been adopted by our leaders. We are aware that BN is trying to divert our attention from the damaging revelations that have been unearthed by the Sabah Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI). It is generally true that reports from our intelligence services are good. How is it that they were caught unprepared in Sabah?

Could the real reason be another distraction? It is without doubt that BN will do its utmost to cheat in the coming general election. The lackadaisical attitude of our ministers and authorities suggests that BN is trying to portray Najib as the "hero" who saves the nation from an armed invasion. Is it an attempt to make Sabahans beholden to BN and so vote them in? Perhaps, Najib is going to use the armed rebels as an excuse to station several army units in Sabah and then cheat using the army votes and postal votes. In a worst case scenario, will Najib use the rebels as a ploy to declare emergency rule to delay the election and instil fear in Malaysians?

Najib appears clueless and is silent about the invasion. This might be a plot to embarrass him and show him as an inept leader, hatched by none other than Mahathir and those who are plotting to overthrow Najib. Do we really want to be ruled by a party that expends its energy on internecine wars rather than governing the country? We must vote for a party that will lead us, the country and all Malaysians, to peace and prosperity, and expel our enemies but not our friends. Malaysiakini

MARIAM MOKHTAR is a non-conformist traditionalist from Perak, a bucket chemist and an armchair eco-warrior. In 'real-speak', this translates into that she comes from Ipoh, values change but respects culture, is a petroleum chemist and also an environmental pollution-control scientist.